Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-01-01
FIG CULTURE.
IT'S GROWTH MOST COMPLETE IN
OUR SOIL AND CLIMATE.
Will Yield Immense Crops-Is Easil
Grown, and Brings Highly Re-
muneratiye Returns.
Inr RonEnr wr11IAnsoN. Of sacramento.l


yate it has a history dating back farther
than any other fruit We grow. Thousands
and millions of people in all ages of
the world have subsisted largely on the fig.
In many of The old countries the failure of
fig crop means not only stagnation in
business, but almost starvation and famine.
The late B. B. Rcdding told me, not long
before his death, that while travelling in
Europe. he learned that a very large
per cent of the inhabitants of Asia
Minor, Greece, Portugal Italy, and many
of those old countries, lived mainly on the
fig and olive; that travellers and sheep
herd, when starting off on trips with their
stock or otherwise, would carry with them
as their supplies of provisions little else
than dried figs and picked olives. and that
they would not only live for weeks and
months on these, but grew fat, and endure
almost untold hardships and exposures,
enjoying the most robust health all the
time. 1t is a well-known fact that the fig
possesses more nutriment and also more
medical properties than any fruit we cult
vate, excepting possibly the olive. 1t is
healthy and substantial article of food,
either for man or beast, and is at the same
time fine, delicate favored luxury, and
can readily be brought into general use by
almost the entire human family, when it
is once brought to their notice and put
within their reach. One of the chief bar
riers to their general use now by the Amer
lean people is the high price at which
good article can be obtained. Some idea of
THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS INDUSTRY
In the Old World may be cleaned from the
fact that, according to the report of the
American Consul, there had been delivered
for export at Smyrna alone, for the year
1884, p 100000 pounds of dried figs, be-
q
Hungary, Dalmatia and other fig-produc-
ing countries, making grand total export
of fully 80, 900, 600 pounds, besides supplying
an enormous home consumption. OF this
large export, England, Germany and the
United States take the bulk of it. With
these facts before US, and with the further
fact that there is but a small portion OF the
earth's surface where the fig can be success
fully grown and cured, and that we in Cal
ifornia have the lions share of that small
area, are We not blind to our best interests
if we do not improve our golden opportuni-
ties 1t is thoroughly demonstrated fact
that the fig tree will grow mostlu1uriantly.
thrive and bear great crops, on most all of
our valley, plains, mesa and foothill Ian DIS,
from one end of the State to the other.
The warm, dry alluvial sells, and dry
warm climates of the interior valleys and
foothills, seem to be peculiarly adapted to
its successful culture and curing. It will
grow and
BEAR GOOD oRoPs
OF fruit on lands too dry to mature other
fruits. It will also do we'll on our rich,
moist bottom lands provided they are well
drained. So that there is no fruit that can
be more generally grown all over our State
than TIE fig, and no other with so little
care and risks, or that is more profitable in
the end, if we get good varieties and handle
the frait properly. Preparation of the fruit
for market has until very recently been
done in the most careless and slovenly
manner by the California grower so much
so that many have concluded fg-growing in
this State was failure. Only few years
ago the same ideas prevailed relative to
raisin and wine making in California. But
what a change has come over the public
mind relative to the two last named pro-
ducts, and the same change, and even
greater, will soon come over the public
mind in regard to raising and curing the
fig.
THE BEST METHOD
For curing the fig in the sun, is to pick it
when it has just began to wilt; place it on
trays, in tight room, put slow sulphur
fire under it SAY half pound of best sui
phur to 200 pounds of figs, let the sulphur
burn slowly till consumed, the fumes
ascending among the fruit until entirely
exhausted. This will require, say 10 or -
hours. The fruit should be kept in the
sulphur bath. The object of this sulphur
ing of the green fruits to prevent ferTnenta-
ton and souring in the process Of drying.
to preserve the natural flavor and the
qualities Of the fruit, to soften the skin, and
at the same time to bleach or whiten the
dried product After the sulphuring, I
should be taken out, placed on trays or "a
scaffold, and treated much the same as we
do the raisin. They should be turned over
several times while drying-care should be
taken not to let them get too dry and hard.
This, of all the mistakes, is the most COM
mon with the amateur in fruit drying. All
that is wanted is to simply evaporate
the water from the fruit. The softer
and more flexible it is, the better,
and the more salable the product Will
be. and the heavier it weighs the more
profitable it is to the producer and the more
palatable and satisfactory to the consumer.
The operator should not wait until the
whole batch is dry before taking il up, but
should watch it carefully, and as fast as a
portion of it is dry enough, to pick out and
take up all such specimens as are sutfi-
GENTLY cured. The sense of feeling, aided
by a little common sense will tell him
when it will do. In most localities, espe-
cially in the valleys and near the coast,
IT WILL PAY WELL
To cover the figs at night to keep off damp
ness. With favorable weather and proper
care it viii usually take from four to seven
dav to dry the sulphured figs, and eight to
twelve days to dry the unsulphured, for
they dry much quicker after being sui
phured. After they are thus dried, they
should be dipped in boiling hot solution,
composed Of, say, thirty gallons of water,
e tod lvo
pounds of best rock salt thoroughly dis
solved The figs should be held under this
boiling water about two seconds, and
then taken out. dripped or dried
until the water is gone, and
then packed away in large boxes
about the same as used for raisins covered
up so rs to keep out insects), and left TO
sweat from two to four weeks before pack
ing for market. The object of the dipping
is to kin all insect eggs and soften the skin.
This is done by the alkal while the salt
preserves the fruit and materially adds to
the favor of it by destroying that fiat,
greenish taste which is perceptible in the
fresh dried fruit. 1t also assists the granu-
lation and Capitalization of the natural
sugar in the fig, and assists in bringing out
a white, flowery bloom, which adds much
to the appearance of the product. It also
repels the attack of insects.
30 mucD tOr me sUn-dTYlllE pTOCtSS. DuL
I think the enterprising Californian, the
intelligent grower, will not much longer
waste his precious time with old-time
methods, but will find much speedier and
more perfect way TO complete success by
employing artificial heat. From recent
experiments made I am thoroughly con-
WINGED that the employment of artificial
heat in curing the fig is the dawning of
new and grand era in that
GREAT AND GROWING INDUSTRY
In this golden State. think in that, as in
many other things, we viii find ourselves
centuries ahead of our antediluvian
brethren in the old countries. do not
think l am over sanguiue hope, nay
gentlemen, I expect (if live five years
longer to see my predictions fulfilled re-
garding the disuse of the old, and the
adoption of the new system.
As to varieties we are still at sea as 10
whether we have the best or not. Many eff
forts have been made to get the best varieties,